Glowing Green
by Kiwi Lee Scipio
Summary: Sam finds out that she has retained some of Undergrowth's powers just in time for Danny's parents to find out about his Phantom life. Only they've been brainwashed by what Human Vlad said back in Nonentity and think Danny is now being controlled by Phantom and wish to rip the two apart so they can have their son back. Takes place right after D-Stabilized while taking place of PP
1. Chapter 1

AN: due to Danny getting away with saying he had a report to do on Protrocolups (Which I know I murdered the spelling of) I'm saying D-Stabilized occurred at the beginning of Fall Break. Also I don't own the songs nor the show, just the idea.

Oh, and this story will refer back to two incidents that did not happen in the show. That's cause I'm still working on them but they're going nowhere while this one is actually getting somewhere. One is named "Dismal Swamp" the other has yet to be named.

Chapter 1

"Hey, she not letting us in?" Danny asked as he walked up to the door of Sam's house to find Tucker standing there, waiting.

"No." Tucker said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I've got it. She's probably just in her room listening to music again." Danny said, smiling as he grabbed Tucker's arm and sent intangibility through-out himself and his friend.

The two walked through the door only to have Sam's singing voice greet them, traveling through the ceiling from her room. "_Spike the eggnog, sit back and watch Rudolph, Frosty, Tinny Tim and Scrooge, the Grinch, or Charlie Brown. IT'S TIME!"_

"Oh, this should be good." Tucker smiled as he pulled from his pocket his favorite PDA as the two boys hurried up the stairs. Before they hit the last one, Danny made sure the two were invisible.

They got to Sam's bedroom doorway and saw she was dancing to music blaring from her MP3, the wires as much alive as she was as she started to do the can-can, singing, "_It's time to do the Christmas Can-can if you can't can't dance well that's ok. Not gonna do the kick line._" She stopped kicking her feet only to start pointing towards the corner of her room as she continued, "_All you need is a tree, some lights, about a thousand presents wrap them up and pray for snow. Ho!_"

"Are you getting this?" Danny asked, fighting his laughter as Sam started to prance backwards, her feet almost hitting her butt.

"Duh." Came Tucker's response.

"_Run to your closet, find your Christmas sweater screaming Carols all the way, fa la la la la la._" She waved her hands up in the air as if having the best time of her life alone singing to herself. "_Maine all the way to California, It's the Christmas Can-Can. Hollo-winter-Christmas Day! It's the most wonderful time of year, we're running mad with Christmas cheer. Hey, what's troubling you my friend?_" she crossed her arms over her chest as if the person answering, "_It's not fair if you're Jewish. Jewish. Not fair if you're Jewish Jewish Dradle Dradle Dradle I made it out of clay. You realize that Christmas ain't the only holiday._"

Danny found himself watching with a mix of awe and amusement. Here was their gothic friend who could make any man scared for his life dancing around like she was five. She continued to the end of the song, not knowing they were standing in her doorway watching and laughing. Danny thought something about how they shouldn't be watching like this, but they were supposed to come over so she should've been expecting them. Even if she did leave the door locked.

The song ended, even the two without headphones could hear that, and she quickly took a sip from a water bottle on her desk. Danny was about to pull Tucker back so they wouldn't be obviously spying and appear down the hall when she started to shake her hips to the next song.

"_It's beautiful, simply_" Sam started, her voice like honey to Danny's ears. She held her hands, palm up, out to her sides and raised up with her eyes closed as she continued, "_forcing your way to_" To Danny and Tucker's surprised, she started to glow a ghostly aura around her "_the light!_"

"Sam?" Danny whispered, not sure if a ghost was possessing her since his ghost sense didn't go off.

"_Within the corn' of your mind!_" Sam continued, oblivious to her friends still as she opened her eyes, a green glow now present when irises should have been. "_Exposing your will and_" the plants in the room started to quiver, getting their attention. A spider plant hanging from the ceiling was the first to react. "_pressure is rising with the fall_." Sam sang, walking over to the said plant and held a hand underneath a stem with a small flower. "_Take head of my words and_" Sam flung the other hand upwards and the bonsai plant on her nightstand shot upwards, growing beyond normal heights and speed. "_remember to feel it all!_" Sam sang, the Spider plant took it as its cue to start to grow around Sam's arm, the bonsai now aiding the Spider plant to lift its care taker up into the air.

"SAM!" Danny screamed, fearing Undergrowth he shot forward, he and Tucker both becoming visible as he quickly called upon the lights and changed to Phantom. He ripped Sam free of the plants, bringing up his cold to shoot at the plants only to stop when Sam screamed in his ear.

"Danny! What the-!?"

Danny looked at the girl in his arm and saw she had lost the ghostly glow and green eyes. She looked mad, but normal. A wisp noise turned him back to watching the two plants shrink back to their original size. "What just happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know! Put me down." Sam ordered, scaring Danny into obedience. Once her feet touched the ground she crossed her arms at the two. "How long have you two been there?"

Danny changed back to human and started to rub the back of his neck as her glare made him feel like a little child in trouble from his parents.

"Long enough to see you go Undergrowth Queen." Tucker said, his fear of her showing in his face as he protected his PDA by pulling it close to his chest.

Sam sighed, "That's why I called you two over." she said, putting her hands on her hips. "I apparently kept some of what Undergrowth gave me."

"So how long?" Danny asked, trying to cover his worry by putting his hands in his pockets.

"Have I had them?" Sam continued. She looked down at her hands as she remembered. "I guess since Undergrowth last month, but I couldn't do anything until last night."

Danny gasped, not at her news, but as the cold startled him as it escaped his mouth. "Hold that thought."

"Not again." Tucker whined as he looked away as to not get blinded by his friend. "Call if it's something more than an ectopus."

Danny nodded his head before flying out of Sam's bedroom. Lately ectopuses have claimed Amity Park as their new haunt and if Danny was being truthful with himself, he didn't like them taking over his town.

He flew in the direction his Ghost Sense directed towards, taking him to the intersection of Sam's street and George Washington only to see his mother already on the scene, bags at her feet as if she'd just come from shopping.

Quickly Danny made himself invisible as he scanned the area, surprised and a bit proud that whatever had caused his 'Sense to go off was now caught by his mom.

That is, until a beep from one of her devices turned her goggled eyes towards him. She swung her rifle up at him, cocking the weapon and positioning her weight to shoot.

"Oh crud." Danny muttered, dropping his invisibility since her goggles would be able to read his small heat signature as she started to fire at him.

All Danny felt he could do was dodge her blasts until her magazine emptied out and she'd be forced to stop long enough to pop out the used one, giving him time to fly away. Of course, this halfa was never that lucky.

An explosion of pain erupted in his shoulder, forcing Danny to lose altitude. A cry escaped as the teen landed on the ground, the pain spreading from his shoulder into his chest, causing his breathing to be painful. A whine next to his face turned his attention upwards only to look down the faintly glowing barrel of his mom's rifle.

"Good bye, Ghost Boy." Maddie declared, her trigger finger itching.

Danny's green eyes widened, fear and adrenalin slowed down time. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain only to find, to his surprise, himself enveloped in a cold green fire. The fire disappeared, dropping him to the ground face first as the sound of a gunshot hit the pavement.

Danny looked up, surprised to see he was now looking at his mom from a few meters away. Her surprised gaze stared down at him as she mouthed what looked to be his name.

Danny pulled down at his bangs, seeing his pale hand and black hair.

"Vlad was right." Maddie said, more to herself. She repositioned her rifle, lining the sights to point it at Danny's head. "Phantom, I swear I will shoot if you don't get out of my son's body this instant."

"Vlad?" Danny asked, his mind not completely following his mom's accusations. "Mom, it's me." Danny started to push himself upwards only for his left arm to give way, dropping him back to the ground.

"Ya, right, like I'd believe a lying piece of ectoplasm." Maddie growled, slowly making her way over to his body. "Ever since Vlad told us you were hiding out in my son's body a few months ago, we decided to run tests to disprove him. I guess you can imagine our surprise when every test we ran came back positive for ecto-energy." Maddie thrusted the barrel of her rifle at Danny's head. "Get out of my son. Now."

Danny panicked, his own mother was willing to shoot the ghost out of him. His perception of time slowed again, but as he watched a glowing green fire engulfed him.

His eyes went dark as he felt himself drop down onto something plush, a voice calling out his name only to be barely registered as his body gave up on him and left him in darkness.

AN: ok, so I used a bit of the idea behind Family Secrets but…. This is where I got it first, ok!

Danny: You're terrible. You copy from your own stories.

AN: And you're just a figment of my imagination.

Danny: Alright alright, *holding hands up* esh, what got you up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

AN: I can only get up on one side of my bed, the other's the wall.

Danny: *rolling eyes*

AN: read and review please


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"This is so cool."

"Tucker!"

"What? He can now teleport!"

"It also knocked him out cold."

Danny felt someone bandaging up his shoulder as his mind slowly caught up with him, feeding him memories of what happened before he lost consciousness. His own mother….tried to kill him.

"Danny?" Sam's worried voice came to him, getting him to realize he had let a tear escape. The hand bandaging him up froze as if in fear they were hurting him more.

Danny bit the inside of his bottom lip, not wanting to open his eyes and show them he was awake as well.

After a moment of silence, the bandaging continued until it was snipped off and taped closed.

"I'll get some water for when he wakes up." Tucker said. A moment later, Danny heard the door shut behind his techno-geek friend.

Sam stood up, getting Danny to learn he was laying on her bed, and took a few steps. Danny slowly opened his eyes and saw the familiar dark purple, red, and black that made up his gothic friend's room. The goth, herself, was flipping through what looked like her photo album again.

"Any new photos in there?" Danny asked, getting Sam to jump and a smile on his face as he sat up.

"I'm going to kill you one day for doing that." Sam growled, walking back over to the bed side. A smile slowly appeared on her face. "Glad you're awake."

"Hey man." Tucker said as he walked into the room with a glass of water in his hand.

Danny took the glass, finding himself really dry now that water was insight.

"So what happened out there?" Sam asked as Danny put the glass to his lips.

"Other than you teleporting." Tucker added.

Danny finished the glass, surprised at how real his fear had been about his parents as he thought about how to tell them. He lowered the glass into his lap before starting, "When I got there, Mom had already caught whatever the ghost was…" Danny's voice left him as his emotions fought.

"She didn't." Sam guessed, her hands gripping the edge of the bed in a need to grab something.

Danny nodded his head, looking down at the glass to avoid their eyes. "Ya, she shot me. I teleported a few feet away and reverted back."

The three were in silence as Danny closed his eyes, the memory paining him.

"But in the past when they found out, they were ok with it." Tucker pointed out.

"Remember that problem with human Vlad?" Danny asked, looking up long enough to see their nods before finding the glass in his hand actually interesting. There was a bit of a smug from where the dishwasher didn't clean it right just to the left of his right thumb. "I think he convinced Mom that Phantom was using me. She didn't believe we were the same person."

"You…She what?!" Sam exclaimed.

Danny closed his eyes again as he felt them start to burn with tears.

"How? How does she not believe you?" Tucker asked, stunned.

Danny bit his bottom lip only to crack. He glared up at Tucker. "I don't know, ok." Tears ran freely as his emotions overtook him. "All I know is she-" his voice cracked, going higher in pitch than he'd like as Sam put a hand on his back to avoid his shoulder.

Danny, we're here for you." Sam said as she sat back down next to Danny on the bed.

Danny threw himself out of the bed, ripping himself away from Sam. "Don't you get it!?" he slammed the glass down on the girl's night table before turning to face his friends. "I can't go home."

"You can stay here." Sam offered.

"Or my place."

"No, your houses will be the first place they check." Danny put his hands up to his face, covering it as he tried to figure things out.

"What about your grandparents?" Sam suggested.

Danny let his hands slowly drop.

"Ya, we'll try and convince your parents the truth while you stay in Virginia." Tucker offered. "And they're ghost friendly."

Danny nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Alright. You've got some back up cloths at Tucker's, right?" Sam asked, getting up and walking into her closet.

"Ya." Danny called towards the doorway.

Sam came back carrying a pink book bag. "Sorry 'bout the color."

"My normal one's Jazz's purple hand-me-down." Danny tried, falling into his normal jeering.

"Alright, come on. Let's go pack and I'll plot out your flight path." Tucker said, pulling out his PDA.

In under ten minutes the three had filled the pink bag with Danny's cloths, power bars from Angela Foley's stash, and a Fenton Thermos just in case.

Danny transformed as he took the bag and put it on. Tucker handed him a sheet of paper, still warm from his printer. "Here, I've put markers on some places for you to stop and get a breather."

Danny skimmed the paper, seeing the marks in Springfield, Parkersburg, Charlottesville and finally Suffolk.

"Oh, here." Tucker said, grabbing a cord from his computer table and handing it to Danny. "We need to keep in contact so don't let your phone die."

Danny took the charging cable and smiled at his friends." Thanks guys. I owe you."

Tucker gave him a hug, saying, "No man. Just…stay safe."

Danny hugged his lifelong friend back, glad for the teen. "I will."

The two let go, only for Sam to take his place.

Danny found himself surprised as the girl started to shake. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling her warmth spread through him, even in ghost form.

"I don't want to lose you."

Danny almost did a double take, barely hearing the girl. He smiled as he leaned his head against hers. "You won't." Danny whispered.

A cough from Tucker startled the two apart. Danny knew a green blush was on his face as he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked back at his map before folding it up and putting it in his pocket.

A ruckus downstairs caught the three friend's attention only to recognize Maddie's voice.

"Get going, man." Tucker hissed, pushing Danny towards the window. "We'll work on your parents."

Sam opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, stopping Danny. She closed her mouth, second guessing it and instead said, "Text when you get there."

"Will do." Danny smiled, quickly getting lost in her amethyst eyes.

"Tucker, Sam, Danny?" Angela's voice came into the room.

Danny took that as his cue to leave, quickly turning invisible and intangible to fly out of Tucker's room just in time to miss the door being opened. Danny glanced back to see his parents, fully geared in their ghost hunting equipment, scanning Tucker's room for his ecto-signature. He gulped down his fears before turning south-east, knowing if he stayed at the time being, his parents wouldn't listen to a word he'd say.

-.-.-.-

"Dang, we just missed it." Jack concluded, slowly dropping down his Fenton Finder.

"Kids, don't you see what you're doing?" Maddie asked, eyeing Tucker and Sam. "Phantom's a ghost, who knows when it could've lost control and hurt you."

Sam gripped her hands at her sides, "Danny's still your son. _He_'s still your-"

"Not anymore." Maddie interrupted, a grim expression behind her red goggles. "We ran his DNA. Because of how many times Phantom hid within in body, they became one."

"Do you even hear yourselves!?" Tucker asked, exploding. "How can you believe your own lies?! Danny was always Phantom. Ever since the beginning!"

"Wha-"

"Maddie." Angela started, putting a hand on her son's shoulder. "Danny's not here. If we see him, we'll give you a call, ok?"

Maddie sighed as she lifted off her hood to show her red hair.

"Jazz knows the truth as well." Sam said, bringing in the girl with the hope to help Danny's case.

"I knew Jazz was working with it." Jack declaimed, smacking his fist in his hand.

"_He's not an it_!" Sam declared.

Maddie glared at the girl, silencing the goth in surprise with the amount of pain in her eyes. "The moment Danny turned his body over to Phantom, he gave up his humanity."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Danny dropped down behind a fast food restaurant, changing back to human with a gasp. Exhaustion whipped over his body as he struggled to stay awake. _Maybe I should've stopped back in Springfield._ Danny thought to himself. He shook his head, trying to stay awake long enough to refuel. Mrs. Foley's energy bars were nice to eat while in flight, but Danny wanted a dinner before crashing for the night.

Danny walked into the national food chain, quickly blending into the busy dinner crowd. He got his food and found a table close to the door before digging in. Only once his burger was gone did he pull out Tucker's map.

"Hey kid, you from out-a-town?"

Danny looked up only to notice an older man sitting across the walkway. "Uh, ya. I'm heading towards my grandparent's."

"Where's that?" the old man asked, too curious for his own good.

"Uh, close to Norfolk." Danny answered, turning back to his map to hopefully clue into the man that he really didn't want to talk.

"I know that area." The man said, getting an annoyed sigh out of the teen. "I've got family that live in the Chippoke's area."

"That's a bit west of Norfolk, right?" Danny asked, mentally hitting himself. He didn't need to be giving the old geezer more of a reason to talk.

"Ya, in between there and Jamestown." The man nodded his head. "You ever been there?"

"Jamestown, no." Danny worked on trying to finish his fries to have an excuse to leave.

"You should." The old man urged. "Before the ocean continues to take away what they've found."

Danny's phone rang, the first time on his trip he was actually thankful he didn't turn it to vibrate. He pulled it out and answered it, not caring who was on the other end. "Hello?"

"Danny!? Finally. Why didn't you pick up the last _thirty_ time's I called?!" Jazz's voice blared into his ear. He held it away for a moment to make sure the girl was done yelling.

"I'm sorry, but it's not all that easy to answer a phone on the road." Danny said, picking his words carefully as the old man kept his eyes on the teen. "I'm guessing Sam and Tucker told you?"

"Ya, we're all together at the Nasty Burger at the moment." Jazz informed. "Danny, Mom and Dad have reported you to the police as a missing person. I convinced them to keep the Guys in White out of this but I don't know how long that'll last."

"Cause of your age, Danny, the police had put out an Amber Alert." Sam's voice said.

"Great, just what I need." Danny dropped his head onto his free hand, closing his eyes.

"I've called Grandma, so she knows you're on your way." Jazz said. "I said something about you taking the train to get there."

"I'll probably be there around dinner time tomorrow." Danny said, lifting his head to feed himself the remainder of his fries. "I'm guessing you've had no luck with Mom or Dad?"

There was a pause on the other end for a moment before Jazz admitted. "No, they won't listen to reason. Now they think all four of us have been corrupted by ghosts."

"Well, hopefully Grandma or Grandpa will be on my side." Danny said, folding up the map as the last of his dinner disappeared.

"You're going to tell them?" Tucker's voice asked.

Danny stood up from his bench and threw Sam's backpack on before taking his trash. "Ya." He said after a moment. "I need all the family I can get."

-.-.-.-

A click on the line told the three sitting around the table at the Nasty Burger Danny had hung up, leaving the friends in silence.

Tucker looked across the table at his best friend's sister and asked, "You're not going to tell him?"

"What? Tell him I'm fighting to keep a roof over my head? That our parents have officially lost their senses? Or the fact that they've vowed to take revenge on the ghost that supposedly killed their son?" Jazz sighed as she looked down at her lap, trying to recompose herself. "Danny's dealing with enough as it is."

Tucker swallowed gravely, know the girl was telling the truth.

Sam stood up, getting the two's attention. "Come on. Vlad started this mess." She turned to look at them, "He's going to help finish it."

"You do remember, it was human Vlad that started all of this." Jazz pointed out as she and Tucker followed the goth out of the restaurant.

"I know." Sam smiled, working up a plan as she hopped into the passenger seat of Jazz's car.

It took the three about ten minutes to make it to Posh Heights. Jazz quickly drove up Vlad's driveway, slamming on the breaks in front of the door.

They barely made it out of the car before the front door opened, washing the dark porch with light from the entry way.

"If this is about young Daniel, I had nothing to do with it." Vlad said, leaning against the door frame to look at the three teenagers. His normally well combed white hair was sticking up in direction as he pulled on the ends of his jacket to straighten it. "I just got a call from the police informing me of his disappearance."

"Actually, ya, you did." Sam said, pushing pass the man to enter the mansion with Tucker and Jazz behind her.

"Sure. By all means. Come in. Make yourself at home." Vlad growled, slamming the door shut behind himself. He followed the three into his sitting room and sat down across from them.

After a quick explanation and reminder of Vlad's account with an alternative universe Vlad, the three got the man up to date.

"So they believed him." Vlad concluded. Folding his hands under his chin as he processed the information. "So why am I being pulled into this?"

"Cause if you don't help, we'll tell the Fenton's you're Plasmius." Tucker threatened as he leaned forward in his chair. "And with the way their minds are going right now, who knows how they'd react to that."

"Fine. What is your plan?" Vlad asked, knowing for the time being it was safer to have Jack thinking he was a friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_I've gotta get Sam and Jazz out of here, now!_ Danny realized as he slowly made his way into Fenton Works. In the back of his mind, he knew he was stepping into the lions' den, but he had to save the two girls.

Danny cautiously made his way down the hallway, knowing they were being held in the family room. He couldn't go ghost since his parents had activated the house's defense system. He was surprised the house wasn't already on his hide.

"Where are you going?"

Danny froze as a whine of an ecto-gun powered up behind him. He slowly turned around only to see his parents standing before him, not with ecto-weapons, but with guns. His father held a revolver in his hands while his mother stood with a shot gun rested on her right shoulder and a berretta in her left hand. "Mom? Dad?" Danny asked, scared.

"Good bye, Daniel." Maddie growled, raising up the silver semi-automatic to the teen's head.

Danny sat up, his eyes flashing opened as he held a hand up to his heart. He quickly changed his eyes to glowing green to check out the room. The only thing moving was a rat in the corner of the abandoned rundown lofts he had crashed in, leaving Danny to sigh and relax.

It was just a dream. A nightmare.

Danny laid back on the mattress, trying to relax into the worn material.

_Good bye, Daniel._

Danny turned over, trying to empty his mind as his mother's voice echoed in his head. He closed his eyes as a tear escaped, running over his nose and down to his other eye.

A buzz filled the air, vibrating the old springs under his body.

Danny whipped the tear away before grabbing his phone. He rolled back on his back and flipped open the device to get blinded by the light. After a moment, his eyes adjusted.

**Dani r u ok?**

Danny smiled, seeing Sam's spelling of his name. He glanced up at the clock at the top of the screen to see it was around three in the morning.

**Yd u spel my name like that? :)**

** Stupid phone **

Danny thought for a moment before he started to answer her question.

**Hw do u do that?**

** Wht? Now when ur having a nm?**

** C! Howd u even now that!?**

** Weve ben friends 4 how long? 97**

** If i remembr right u wanted 2 take my crayons and bet me 2 a pulp**

** Nm bout ur parents?**

Danny froze, looking at the glowing screen in front of him. The fear reappeared in his chest, forcing him to close his eyes to hold back the emotions. The phone buzzed in his hands to signal a new text had come in.

**Were workin on them Vlads helpin**

** VLAD!?**

** He started it well human hum did**

Danny closed his eyes again, fatigue taking over.

A buzz got his attention back to the phone that had fallen to his chest. He lifted it up and smiled at what Sam had said.

**Get some sleep txt when u get there we all love you**

** Will do thanx sam**

He hit send before going back to her last text.

_**we all love you**_

He always knew his two friends loved him like the brother they never had. Heck, Sam was more like a brother to him sometimes. A brother that wore skirts. Danny snickered at that thought as he closed his phone and rolled back to his side. Sam was right, he needed to get some sleep so he could wake up in a few hours if he wanted to make it to Suffolk before night fell tomorrow.

Now as long as his mind would leave him alone for the rest of the night he could get some sleep.

-.-.-.-

_Well, Danny's worst nightmare came true, Mom and Dad know about him being half ghost and, as much as I hate to say it, they want him dead._

Jazz looked up from her diary and checked the clock. 4:23 am. The girl knew she should be asleep. It may be fall brake for everyone going to Casper High but college was just around the corner which meant papers to write for scholarships and entry forms. And now with Danny running away, Jazz had to be there at the search party tomorrow.

The red head sighed as she leaned her head on her hand. The stars outside her window shined brightly, reminding her of her brother's love for them.

She smiled as a thought formed. As much as Danny, and probably her own father, would deny it, her parent's love of ghosts and the unknown fueled both her own and Danny's two different loves.

Danny loved the unknown of space while her parents loved the unknown of the Ghost Zone.

Jazz's own love wasn't far off either. Her love was just the understanding of what happened inside the brain.

If only she could figure out a way to get into her parents' mind that Danny was Phantom and not the other way around. She looked back at her diary and continued.

_I can't tell Danny, but Mom and Dad have already threatened to kick me out of the house. They believe Sam, Tucker, and I have all been corrupted by Danny._

_ Vlad's helping us, since it was his human self that caused all of this, though we'll have to wait till Danny gets to Suffolk to begin._

_ A bit of good news for my record keeping. Sam has learned she obtained some plant controlling powers from when Undergrowth took over. We'll have to make sure Mom or Dad doesn't find out at the moment, but if a ghost attacks while Danny's out of town, we'll have a trick up our sleeves._

"Jasmine?" Maddie's voice called through the door, getting the girl to jump in her chair. "You should be in bed."

"Yes ma'am." Jazz called, quickly flicking off her table light and getting into bed. For the first time in her life, she found herself afraid of her parents. At the moment the two were unpredictable which scared the girl more than her parent's weaponry.

AN: ok, one think I see missing in a lot of runaway stories (specifically Danny running away from his parents who turn out they want to kill him) is the nightmares. Most people who know me know I had to do almost just that last year and I still get haunted by nightmares of Mom coming and hunting me down or I'm going back to her house so I can get my cat back only I always get caught. So I know that if your subconscious is still fearing you're going to get caught, then it'll still haunt you in your dreams.

Danny: that's not really an author's note that's more of a commentary

AN: well, what do you want me to put, AC? No one's going to know what that is.

Danny: Air conditioner, Arcee, Agatha Christy,

AN: one Arcee sounds more like RC, not AC, and with a reason. She's a transformer. Two, that's my point.

Danny: Don't Care, I'm bored. *flying around in my tiny room*

AN: Someone snuck the sand pudding again didn't he? *shakes head* let me go and find that ghost fishing line again and bring him down to earth. While I do that, Read and Review fokes!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Valerie moved her spoon through her cereal as she held the bowl on the armrest of the worn-out sofa. Her eyes stared at the television set in front of her but her mind was reviewing what all had taken place two days ago.

First it was that ghost girl who wasn't really a ghost, or was she a ghost who became half human.

But then Vlad was that Wisconsin Ghost: Plasmius.

Valerie crunched down on her spoonful of cereal. She couldn't believe that she'd been working for a ghost all this time!

The girl stopped in mid-chew as a memory surfaced. Vlad had called Danny his friend right after the elections. Did Danny know about Vlad being half ghost and pure evil?

"Sweetie, you ok?"

Valerie swallowed and looked up from her cereal to see her father walking in from the bathroom, dressed in his security uniform.

"Yes Daddy." Valerie smiled up only for her eyes to stop on the TV as Tiffany Snow said something about an Amber Alert.

"Still there's no news on the location of Amity Park's own Danny Fenton." Tiffany said as the boy's last year book photo appeared next to her. "He was last seen yesterday afternoon on George Washington Boulevard, if anyone knows anything about his where-abouts you are to call the number on the bottom of the screen."

"Danny's….missing?" Valerie gasped, dropping her spoon into the bowl.

"That's that boy you dated, isn't it?" Damon asked, sitting on the sofa next to the startled girl.

Valerie nodded as Vlad Masters appeared on the screen.

"I've sent out search parties to every reach of this town as well as Elmerton and Widow's Peak." Vlad announced as he was putting on an orange vest. The three local news crews' mikes were pointing towards his face. "We're doing everything we can to find Danny to the point that even I'm joining the search gathering here at the Nasty Burger."

Valerie jumped off the sofa and threw her bowl into the sink, promising herself she'd clean it later.

"Valerie?" Damon asked, watching his daughter as she quickly pulled on her shoes, hobbling towards the door.

"I've gotta go help them." Valerie explained, grabbing her keys before stopping at the door. "He's still my friend, Daddy, I have to do something."

Damon smiled at the girl he raised. "I'll help the search after I get off work if they still haven't found him."

Valerie smiled back at her father before rushing out of the apartment. _Even if Danny is friends with that two faced Vlad…_ she growled to herself as she rushed down the stairs.

-.-.-.-

"Group A will search the woods behind Amity Park Park!" Captain Bakula ordered through his bull horn.

"I hate this." Sam hissed over towards Tucker and Jazz as the captain of Amity Park's Police Department continued.

"I know orange isn't your color, Sam-"

"Tuck, I'm not talking about the vests." Sam growled, motioning towards the neon orange vest over her shoulders.

"I know what you mean." Jazz lowered her eyes. "I feel like we're wasting our time since we know where he is."

Tucker sighed as he put his hands in his pockets. "We all know Danny needs us to put up this show until he gets there."

"Sam? Tucker?"

The three turned to see Valerie hurrying over towards them as she threw on her own searcher's vest. She stopped next to the three and said, "I just heard about Danny disappearing, what happened?"

"We don't really know." Sam said, going back over the story the three of them, plus Vlad, had come up with. "He said he had to check something outside of my place and that was the last we saw of him."

"What group did you get put into?" Jazz asked.

"C, heading over to the old Jenkin's farm." Valerie said. She quickly glanced around at the group of people, surprised to find even some A-listers and teachers in the bunch, but two hazmat suits were missing. "Jazz, where's your parents?"

"They, um, they said they'll be here soon." Jazz said, obviously lying.

"Split up in your groups and keep in contact via walkie-talkie." Captain Bakula ordered, getting Valerie to wave towards Danny's friends before heading over to where someone held up a card with her letter.

"Oh Valerie. I didn't expect to see you aiding the search efforts."

Valerie froze in her steps as she bit the inside of her lip to keep her retorts to herself before putting on a fake smile and turning towards the mayor. She still hadn't figured out what she was going to do about him, and until she did she had to act normal. "Of course, Mr. Masters. Danny is my friend."

"Well, good." Vlad nodded, his orange vest looking out of place over his white business shirt. "The more people searching means the more likely he'll be found. Good luck."

Valerie watched him walk over to Jazz, seeing the two talk but was too far to hear their conversation.

_There's no way Danny could know how evil Vlad is._ Valerie realized, watching the two walk away to their group. _Vlad's too good of an actor._

-.-.-.-

"We're still wondering when Jack and Maddie Fenton will appear-"

Maddie slammed her fist against the off button on the small screen, almost pushing the portable television set off the lab table. "Jack, this is stupid!"

"Come over here and help me." Jack ordered, pulling down his hood and goggles as he grabbed for the flint.

Maddie walked over and put on her goggles but didn't reach for the blow torch. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I, but Danny made his choice and as his parents we have to fix it." Jack tried, dropping his hands to the table between them. "If this gun works, we'll be able to free Danny, now hand me that blow torch."

Maddie picked it up only to look at it. "What did we do wrong, Jack?"

Jack sighed. "It's part of being a teenager, Mads. They're going to rebel. Remember when Danny was little? We tried convincing him he was a boy so he had to wear pants."

This brought a smile to his wife's face. "He tried proving he could wear all of Jazz's old skirts and dresses." Her smile disappeared. "But this is different. He gave his body to a ghost."

Jack looked down at the beginnings of what was going to be the Fenton Purifier. His mind ran through how Jazz had known about what Danny had been doing and hadn't tried to stop him. How Sam and Tucker had even helped him. None of it made sense to him.

"Alright, Jack. Let's get to work." Maddie sighed, grabbing the flint from his hand to start up the blow torch.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Danny covered his mouth as a yawn escaped him. Yawning while flying wasn't always an easy thing to do. How Superman got away without intangibility Danny couldn't figure out.

He glanced down at the road below him, looking for signs about how much longer till he got to Charlottesville. He'd admitted, the mountain air and clean lakes were nice here. He'd stopped off around Staunton and got some water out of a lake to drink, making sure he didn't get dehydrated. That lake water tasted better than some bottled water did.

"There we go." Danny smiled, seeing a mile marker sign. "Just a couple more miles and I should see the town."

Danny could understand why Dani never wanted to stay in Amity Park, besides Vlad. This small trip was exhilarating, getting him to almost completely forget about his problems at home. Even being in his ghost form for so long wasn't giving him any problems. Or at least as many as he thought it might. He still had to drop down every few hours and change back to see if his human side needed a bathroom break. He learned that the hard way about eight o'clock that morning after flying out of Parkersburg at six in the morning.

Eight came and he had decided to pull out an energy bar only to struggle with finding one. He'd dropped down and transformed once he hit the ground only to find himself forced to wash his jeans and shorts in a small town laundry mat.

Danny's mind was ripped back to the present as a cold wisp of air forced its way out of his body. He slowed down and rotated in a 360 to find the ghost that had caught his attention.

With no ghost in sight, Danny shrugged it off and turned to continue his flight only to be blasted in his back and forced to hurl through the air towards the forest beneath him.

Danny quickly caught his balance and turned around to face his appoint. "Hamalot! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"That's _Sir_ Hamalot to you Phantom." Hamalot raised a glowing fist.

"Ya, sure, whatever Ham." Danny smiled, crossing his arms over his chest. "At least you've learned to leave Amity Park alone."

"Ah, yes, your pathetic little hometown." Hamalot distinguished the energy in his hand. "Whereas the theater is my home."

"So what play are you messing with now?" Danny asked, knowing he needed to get going but also knew this ghost fought more with words than with his fist.

"Shakespeare's Comity of Errors." The ghost pointed towards himself, "I'm going to get the lead role of Antipholus of Syracuse."

"As if anybody would give a ghost a part in a play." Danny scoffed.

"I am no mere ghost!" Hamalot cried out a bit over dramatically. "I am an actor!"

"Sure, good luck with that." Danny waved as he started to fly backwards. "See you later, Ham!"

"It's Sir _Milton Hamalot_!" the ghost's voice cried into the wind as Danny left.

Hamalot still landed himself under the "just plain weird" category of all the ghosts Danny had to deal with.

The last few miles went uneventful as Danny entered the city of Charlottesville, quickly grabbing a meal and headed back to the sky to fly the last few hours to Suffolk.

Two hours passed and Danny found himself dropping down in the small county of Zuni. After making sure his human needs were met, he walked a little down the one stop light town to stretch his legs out, only making eye contact with a herd of cattle by the road.

After he walked long enough his legs felt back to normal, he headed down a small residential road, looking for a more deserted farm.

Thinking he found one, he jumped over the wooden fence and quickly transformed only to be frozen as a pitch fork was thrown at him and embedded itself in the dirt at his feet.

"Git off my land, you stupid kid!"

Danny looked up at the voice's owner, scared his secret had yet again been blown only to sigh in relief. Before him looked like any stereotypical farmer with only one change. Well, two if you counted the aura. The more noticeable one was the farmer was floating about a foot off the ground.

Danny held his hands up and stepped back. "I'm going, sir." Danny tried, floating up.

The man grabbed his pitch fork and hurled it up at the teen, nicking him in the thigh. "I get your point!" Danny yelled, grabbing the pitch fork before it could fall to the ground. He turned it so the points were heading downwards and threw it back at the man. "Now, get mine!"

The man dodged the three pointed stick with the agilely of someone half his age, if alive, before throwing a ball of ecto-energy at Danny.

Danny tried to create a shield but was a second too late as the blue energy struck him in the chest. He dropped about twenty feet until landing on the hard packed earth below him.

"Com'on Fenton!" Danny grumbled to himself as he started to work his way out of the teen-sized crater. "You're losing your edge."

Danny managed to get out of the hole just in time to miss two more blue blasts from the old man but failed to notice the third until it hit him in the head, knocking him into a tumble before regaining his balance.

"Git off my land, boy!" the farmer ordered as he raised his pitch fork up in the air.

Danny held his head, trying to do what the crazed ghost was ordering, This wasn't a battle he needed to waist his energy on at the moment.

Kicking it into high gear, Danny poured on the speed, shooting out of Zuni in under a minute.

Danny dropped down as soon as he crossed the line into Isle of Wight to examine his wounds. The scratch on his thigh was almost completely healed, even the hazmat material was working on repairing itself. His chest had healed from the blow and his back was already popping itself back into place. He touched the spot on his temple where the last shot had hit only to pull his hand away green.

Danny pulled off his backpack, careful not to get any ectoplasm on it as he searched for the first aid box he had noticed at the bottom. As he pulled out a wipe, his phone went off, forcing him to put it on speaker so he could continue. "Hey Tuck, how's everything?"

"Other than just getting a lunch break?" Tucker asked as wrappers could be heard.

Danny glanced at the phone to see what time it was as he finished wiping off the excess ectoplasm and smiled. "Whoa, you're three hours late. I'm surprised you survived."

"I almost didn't!" Tucker exclaimed around a mouth full of food.

Danny quickly wrapped a gauze around his head to help his ghostly healing and to prevent anymore ectoplasm from leaving him before putting his stuff back in the bag. As he moved his cloths around, something green caught his attention. To his surprise he pulled out a rolled up wad of cash.

"Danny, you still there?" Tucker's voice asked, finally registering in his brain.

"Ya, is Sam with you?" Danny asked, taking his phone off of speaker before putting it to his ear.

"Sure, here she is."

A moment passed as Danny assumed Tucker saying something to the girl as he counted the money, seeing mostly 20's in the piles.

"Hey," Sam's voice finally came through.

"Why did I just find almost three hundred dollars in the bag you gave me?"

"You're welcome." Sam rolled sarcastically, "Ever since the accident I started pulling extra out of my account and saving it in case something like did happen, ok?"

"Sam, I can't take this!" Danny held it out as if giving it back even though more than two hundred miles separated them.

"Too late to refuse." Sam pointed out.

Danny grounded his teeth as he shoved the money back in the back. "You're getting it back when I return."

"I don't care, just don't go hungry with that still sitting in your bag." Sam ordered.

Danny zipped up the bag and threw it on with a grunt, not liking the idea of taking Sam's money.

"So how close are you from getting there?" Sam asked, changing the subject.

"I think it's the city next door?" Danny said, floating up to continue. "So I'll be there within the hour."

"Good, Linda should call everything off when you get there." Sam said.

"Linda?" Danny questioned only for the answer to hit him why she'd called his grandmother by her first name. "Oh, people around, huh?"

"Well, we _are_ at the Nasty Burger." Sam pointed out.

"Any luck with Mom and Dad?" Danny asked, his stomach turning at the thought of his parents.

"They still haven't called in the Guys in White, if that's anything." Sam offered. "Really, they're not releasing anything they know, or think they know."

"Well that's good, I think." Danny looked up as he watched the sky grow dark ahead of him as the sun sunk behind him.

"It shows they still love you." Sam said almost in a whisper. "Jazz was able to convince them that if the GIW got involved, you'd become their experiment. Hey, Jazz wants to talk to you."

"Ok, put her on."

Danny waited a moment before he heard his sister's voice. "How you doing, little brother?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at the question, knowing the girl couldn't see him.

"Sorry, standard question."

"Ok, you and Sam are really starting to creep me out." Danny admitted. "And I'm the one with the ghost powers."

"We're girls, what can I say." Jazz said, a smile in her voice. "But back to the point, Mom and Dad have been working on a new weapon. They aren't telling me much about it, but I know they plan on using it to do what the ghost catcher does. Only problem with this new version; it's supposed to destroy the ghost once it's expunged."

Danny gulped down his fear, not sure what to say about their parent's plans.

"We're doing everything we can to delay it being ready." Jazz tried.

"Thanks Jazz, and tell Sam and Tucker-ah!" Danny found himself fumbling for his phone to keep it from dropping to the ground below him as he also looked around for who had just shot him.

AN: deal with it, I just wanted to bring in Ham, no one brings him into any stories since all he had was the book. I wanna bring him in more.

Danny: great. I hate him!

AN: Why?

Danny: he fights with words!

AN: hence why you're just the "Danny in my head" instead of the writer ^^ Read and Review!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Well well, whelp!" a familiar metallic voice laughed as Danny finally grabbed the phone. "I didn't expect to see you this far from Amity Park."

Throwing a quick, "I'll call you back" to the phone, Danny turned his attention back to Skulker and shot two blasts from his free hand. "What are you doing out here, yourself?"

"Wanted to capture a Firebird." Skulker laughed, raising his arm as missiles appeared off the side. "But you are a much better prize than some elemental."

Skulker fired off the six missiles on his arm, forcing Danny to preform feats of aerodynamic maneuvers just to avoid the bomb-like projectiles. The six blew up behind him, flinging tree debris upwards.

Danny quickly went intangible as the limbs blew towards them, only for Skulker to shoot a goo-like substance that stuck to him. He spread apart his arms only for the goo to spread out like wings. "What the heck is this?!"

"You like it?" Skulker smiled as a compartment opened on his shoulder. "Here's something else I know you'll find yourself attached to."

Danny looked up in time to find himself in the clutches of a crane looking device strung up to Skulker's shoulder. He grabbed the cord, his hands glowing as he sent his Ghost Stinger back at Skulker, shorting out the robotic suit.

Skulker started to drop, bring Danny with him. The teen fought the wind to take a look at Skulker's body, only to see the flame had gone out in his hair.

"Stupid hunk of junk!" Danny kicked at the cord, trying to get the thing to release him as the tree line came closer.

"Good luck, ghost child!" Skulker's real voice said, getting Danny to look almost eye level to see the green tooth. "I look forward to seeing you in Suffolk."

Skulker flew off, leaving Danny to find a pine tree to the face.

-.-.-.-

Jazz looked at the phone in her hand before closing it. She handed it across the table to the African American, saying "I think a ghost attacked him."

Tucker took it and placed it on the table next to his empty burger wrapper.

"Thanks Sam." Jazz looked down at her lunch, avoiding the girl's eyes.

"For what?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"For being prepared for this." Jazz explained, hugging herself to keep herself together.

Sam reached across the table and put a hand on the, now shaking, girl's shoulder. "Jazz, I wasn't prepared for this. I always…I knew your parents would except him cause of the Reality Gauntlet thing. They showed they loved him no matter what happened." Sam sat back down as she admitted, "The real reason I'd continued pulling out money after that was more of my own problems with the future, but now Danny needs it more."

"Hey, can I ask you three something?" Valerie asked as she stopped at their table, getting the three to look up at her.

"Sure, what?"

Valerie put on her Nasty Burger visor, preparing herself for work as she chose her words. "Was Danny really friends with Vlad?"

"Oh, you're talking about that thing during the elections?" Jazz realized, "He's not really. It's more of a frienemy type of thing since our parents and Vlad were close in college."

"Frenemy, right." Valerie nodded, looking down at their table.

"Why?" Sam asked, eyeing the girl down.

"On, no reason." Valerie held her hands up. "Just curious, that's all."

"Gray! Your shift's about to start! Girl! Get over here!"

"Coming Beverly!" Valerie called over her shoulder. She turned back to the three at the table, as if second guessing herself, before leaving to clock in.

"Did Danny tell you what happened Saturday?" Sam asked, eyeing the dark skinned girl as she disappeared from sight.

"Not much, something about a cousin?" Jazz offered, not too sure about the term for the girl. "Danielle, I think?"

"Ya, we don't know much about her either." Tucker admitted with a shrug.

"Did he tell you what happened at Vlad's?" Sam asked, getting a no out of the girl. "He and Val went to rescue Danielle, something happened and Danny lost consciousness. He couldn't tell if Valerie saw or not. I'm wondering if that's what's with her re-interest with Danny."

"Sam, I know you don't like to remember it, but they did date for a while." Tucker dared to bring up. He backed away in the both as far as he could as she stared him down. "I'm just saying, she could still like him, that's all."

"I'd still rather we watch what we say around her." Sam growled, crossing her arms.

"Come on." Jazz smiled as she stood up. "We've gotta be out there for the next search."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Danny opened his eyes, trying to remember what knocked him out, only to notice he was stuck covered in some goop to a tree. A few branches below him hung Skulker's exoskeleton, a cord still strung out from the robot's shoulder to the claw still grabbing Danny's t-shirt covered chest.

Danny wriggled out of the claw, his human body not as muscular as his ghost half actually coming in handy for once.

The claw dropped the rest of the way down to the forest floor, bringing Skulker's body with it.

Danny pulled at the goo Skulker had shot at him, finding its slime-like consistency pulled straight off his cloths but stuck like glue to his skin.

"Great, Ghost Glue." Danny sighed as he started to work his way down the tree. He dropped down to the ground, thankful for his practice in flying, before looking around for a water way. Heading east, he eventually ran into a small river and used the water to free himself of the Ghost Glue.

Once he knew he wasn't going to be permanently stuck to anything, sadly reminding him of one of his Dad's favorite Ray Stevens' songs, he pulled out his cell phone and called Jazz's phone. While he heard it ring, he transformed and floated upwards before continuing on his path to Downtown Suffolk.

"I can't talk, we're out searching for my brother." Jazz's voice said as in the back ground the teen could hear people calling his name.

"Ok, I said I'd call back. It was just Skulker. I'm almost there." Danny quickly summarized.

"Alright, let us know when you get there." Jazz said before hanging up,

Danny put his phone in his pocket before putting on steam.

-.-.-.-

**Hes almost there Nxt city over**

Vlad flicked his phone shut before putting it into his inside pocket. The car slowed down to a stop, getting the man to glance out the window at the house lit up by neon.

"Don't bother, Frank." Vlad said, holding up a hand to stop his driver from getting out. Vlad opened the door and swung his legs out. "I shouldn't be too long."

"Alright, Mr. Masters." Frank tipped his hat as the older man got out of the limo.

Vlad closed the door behind himself and paused on the sidewalk to collect his thoughts. He pulled down on his jacket to straighten any wrinkles out before walking up to the door and knocking. The man found himself waiting almost a minute before the door was opened.

"Oh, Vlad!" Maddie stuck her head out the door to glance around. "The hounds are gone?"

"Yes, I told them that you and Jack were searching for him by your own means." Vlad admitted. The two stood in an awkward silence for a moment before Vlad asked, "May I come in?"

"Yes! Of course." Maddie stepped back to allow the man inside, closing the door after him. She turned to face him as he sat down in the chair Jazz normally occupied and asked, "Do you want a drink?'

"No, but I do want to talk to you and Jack." Vlad admitted.

Maddie paused for a moment, her face going blank as if her mind wanted to stall. She shook her head before nodding towards Vlad. "Ya, I'll get him up here."

Vlad watched the woman walk towards the kitchen, her footsteps slowly fading towards the back of the house. Vlad looked through the kitchen window to make sure the woman was out of sight before pulling out his cell phone.

It had been almost an hour since Jazz had sent the text and the Amber Alert still hadn't been pulled down. This was going to be a close call for it to work.

-.-.-.-

_Ugh, what the heck?_ Danny opened his eyes only to find himself face to face with a bush. Pushing himself out, he looked around as his memories flooded back. He'd made it to Suffolk in plenty of time, but as soon as he changed back to human, he must have lost consciousness. He pulled out his phone, curious as to what time it was, only to see it say 5:47. The fall pink sky making the time make sense.

Danny shoved his phone back in his pocket as he walked around the house to the front door of the Victorian styled house. He walked up the porch and raised his hand to knock on the door only to freeze. Not in a ghostly way, but in a human way as his stomach started playing a game of leap frog. Danny swallowed down the lump forming in his throat before knocking.

"If that's another one of those dang reporters-" the door swung open and Danny was face to face with his skinny grandfather who's blue eyes froze as he saw the boy. "Danny?"

"Hey Grandpa." Danny smiled. "Can I stay here for a bit?"

Robert Fenton backed away, letting the teen walk in before calling out, "Linda! He's here!"

"Thank Heaven!" Linda cried, rushing out of the kitchen and down the dog run to embrace her grandson in a hug that could rival Jack's. She held him at arm's length to look at him with a stern face. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

"I know, but I need you to call off the Amber Alert first." Danny smiled weakly at the large woman.

A smile grew on her face as she stood straight, releasing his arms. "And won't your parents be happy you're safe!"

"Don't!" Danny shrunk as the two looked at him in confusion. Danny hung his head to avoid their gaze as he continued. "Don't call my parents, just the police."

"Danny, they must be worried sick." Robert tried, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder only to find it shaking under his hand.

"Please." Danny whispered, his voice shaking on just that one word.

Linda looked at her husband for a moment, the two sharing the same confused look before Robert nodded his head. "Alright son, just the police."

-.-.-.-

Vlad sighed as he looked at the couple on the sofa, Jack being uncharacteristically quiet as the two waited for Vlad to start.

The man, himself, couldn't believe he was doing this. After how long of him and Danny saying if one exposed the other then they'd both be exposed? But Danny had exposed only himself and if Vlad's future plans were to work, he needed the boy back in his parent's house.

"Do you remember when I told you I thought Phantom was hiding in Daniel?" Vlad started, getting nods from the two. "I've learned recently that I was wrong."

"Oh not you too, Vladdy!" Jack exclaimed, cutting Vlad off in surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"We looked into it after you told us about Phantom using Danny, Vlad." Maddie explained. "We ran his DNA, measured his heart rate," Maddie paused as she ran a hand through her hair. "Phantom's taken over so far that Danny even has an ecto-signature and an electromagnetic pulse."

"Maddie, Jack, Phantom didn't take over Danny's body." Vlad tried. He paused, praying to whomever would listen that this wouldn't backfire. "I told you I've traveled a bit in the Ghost Zone, right? Well, while I was in there a little after I was elected mayor I heard of some ghosts talking about a "halfa"."

"A what-a?" Jack asked.

"A halfa. Half-of, if you will." Vlad admitted only to himself how the term felt more like a racial slur. "After doing some research, I found out they were referring to a half ghost _half human_ hybrid."

"Vlad, I think all those months in politics have messed with your mind." Maddie stopped him, her face hardening into a frown. "Humans can't exist with ectoplasm any more than ghosts can with blood, that was a test we did back in the first days of college."

"We never tested it on a body that could shape shift." Vlad pointed out. "If I remember correctly we used a proto-form ghost and a dead embryo."

"Are you trying to say our son had shape shifting powers before this?" Jack exclaimed.

"No, I'm just saying we didn't-couldn't test enough to rule out much." Vlad tried. The man sighed, feeling like all he was doing was going in circles. Hoping to find a new angle, he asked, "Did Danny ever get shot by any of your equipment right after he turned fourteen?"

"Vlad, what are you getting at?" Maddie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm saying I've learned that with enough ecto-energy being shot into a human, it can half kill them." Vlad growled, previously wanting to avoid the k-word but finding himself drawn to it in his own personal background. The look of surprise and hurt on their faces pushing him to want to continue but his mind reminded him he needed to keep it all simple to avoid his own truth.

"Half kill the?" Jack echoed.

"Vlad, I can't believe this!" Maddie stood up, her hands in fists at her sides. She laughed a second only for her face to harden. "He's gotten to you as well."

"I'm sorry?" Vlad looked up, confused as the woman finally cracked.

"Phantom. Has he corrupted everyone?" Maddie asked. "Vlad, you expect me to believe a human can survive with being made half of ectoplasm?! You're more crazy than Jazz is if you expect us to believe our son is half dead!"

"Maddie, I'm just saying you need to be opened to the idea that you might be wrong before you go and kill your son." Vlad stood up as he felt his phone vibrate close to his chest. He snorted in disgust at the two people as he turned towards the door, saying, "Daniel's safe, I'd rather he'd stay that way."

"We aren't planning on hurting our son, Vlad." Jack said, confused. "We just want Danny free."

Vlad paused for a moment, breathing deeply before turning towards the couple. "If you plan on shooting him with that gun you're building, you will kill him. His ghost half is as much a part of him as he is human." Vlad walked out of the house, leaving the door open, before falling into his limo's backseat.

Frank jumped as Vlad slammed the door shut. He looked back to see his boss fuming only to be eye to eye with the man, almost sure he saw Vlad's eyes turn red for a moment.

"Home sir?" Frank asked, turning around to hope his fear didn't show. He started up the engine and gripped the steering wheel wondering if this job was really worth the pay with how much his boss creeped him out.

"Please."


End file.
